


Birds of a Feather

by summer_days



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is Batman, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Dick Grayson is Robin, Gen, I sort of know how to draw one thing and that is exactly what you get, Jason Todd does not deserve this, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jason Todd is Robin, Tim Drake is Red Robin, Tim Drake is Robin, artwork, i saw 1 picture and 1 incorrect quote and went, now with art!, the au no one asked for where the batfam has wings, welp guess we're writing this now, wing fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:13:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23638873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summer_days/pseuds/summer_days
Summary: Basically what it says on the tin. Short blurbs set in a world where some people have wings, and the colors of one's feathers aren't always consistent.I will try to come back to this and add my drawings, but I'm having difficulty figuring out what AO3 means by an "image URL" when the image is originating from my computer.EDIT: Many thanks to Silver_Tail for giving me the exact video I needed to figure this out! The drawings have been added!
Relationships: Alfred Pennyworth & Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne & Thomas Wayne, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne
Comments: 14
Kudos: 99





	1. Flock Together

Bruce Wayne still remembers his father explaining what an Avis was to him one sunny afternoon. It was the same afternoon his father taught him how to fly, showing Bruce to glide from tree to tree on downy brown feathers, his father’s own wings spread proud in their earth-brown glory. 

His father teaches him most people believe everyone has wings, but not everyone is born knowing how to manifest them. He - Bruce - is lucky in this regard. It means he can do what his father does, and perform all sorts of antics that scare his mother half to death. Like jump off the roof when Martha is trying to take a calming stroll in the gardens. Bruce had been fairly sure half of Gotham had heard her scream that quickly turned into scolding. (But she’d done it with half a smile.) 

His father then sombers and tells Bruce that there are unfortunately some people in the world who would want to hurt him because he is an Avis. There are also people who think, because you have wings, you are better off than those who don't. Bruce’s father teaches him that everyone is just _people._ Some just more feathery than others. And it is Bruce’s choice if he wants people to know or not. 

He is eight years old when he decides the answer is no. 

That year is the first time Alfred guides him through molting in a too-big, too-empty house, and his feathers grow in not brown, but black.

Batman doesn’t have wings. He has a cape. Bruce deliberately trains himself to not rely on his wings, except as a very, very, _very_ last resort. 

He still cares for his wings, cleaning them and straightening out feathers as needed, but he still can’t bring himself to _use_ them without remembering his father teaching him how to fly. 

Then Alfred convinces him to take a night off at a visiting circus, and Bruce’s world changes again. A family of acrobats lies dead on the ground, and a tiny child has flown down to what must be his parents’ bodies on raven-black wings. 

What else can Bruce do but take him in?


	2. Fly Together

Dick Grayson knows people aren’t _supposed_ to have wings. And yet, he does. Little tufts of downy feathers, the same black as the night sky over Haly’s Circus. 

It’s another acrobat that gives what he is a name. 

Pasăre. 

_ Bird. _

His parents love his antics, heightened by the combination of wings and acrobatic training, but they urge their little Robin to keep his wings hidden. There are too many stories of other Pasăre vanishing into the night, or trapped in an endless cycle of performances by greedy ringmasters. 

And then there are whispers of how different colors have different meanings, of how white is purity, but black is death. And so Dick does as he’s told, and keeps his raven-wings hidden from all but his family. 

But Mami and Papi are on the _ground_ and they aren’t moving and they can’t be _dead,_ they _can’t_ be- 

And without thinking Dick has flown to the floor of the ring to see the truth for himself. 

No one kidnaps him. 

No one takes him away. 

There is just a man with eyes understanding-blue who drapes his suit jacket over Dick’s shoulders - hiding his wings, he realizes later - and asks for his name. 

Two months later, he is being settled into a room of his own by one Alfred Pennyworth. 

A week after that, Bruce Wayne reveals his own black-as-night wings, relieving Dick’s lingering fear that, while Wayne has been nice, he only wants him because of his wings. 

And two weeks after _that,_ Dick learns that Bruce Wayne and Batman are one in the same, and starts learning what he needs to follow Batman out on patrol. 

Number one - no killing. 

Number two - no wings. A rule Dick always follows, until he decides he doesn't have to. 

Until he decides saving others is more important to him than keeping his wings a secret, and becomes Nightwing. Oh, he still relies on acrobatic flips and spins and leaps, but now he’s not above using his wings to give him that extra edge. 

After all, how can he resist? 

Especially when he molts, and the new band of blue feathers matches the streak across his chest and arms  _perfectly._


	3. Die Together

Jason Todd knows he is an Avis. He isn’t _dumb._ And he knows what having wings could mean.

For his father, it would be another thing to break when he gets angry. 

For his mother, it could be another thing to sell when she starts backsliding again. 

And so he pretends they don't exist. 

Until Batman catches him trying to steal tires off the Batmobile (it had _seemed_ like a good idea at the time). 

Until Bruce Wayne adopts him. Until Jason moves into that too-big, too-expensive mansion and feels his jaw literally drop when he sees _Bruce Wayne_ walking around with _wings._ Black-as-night, feathered, _wings._

It takes a while, but Jason finally works up enough courage to repay the feeling. The only thing the World’s Greatest Detective has to say - _Well. That was unexpected._

And the two of them make quite the pair under the Gotham streetlights. Bruce with wings that match his brooding personality and costume. Jason with a costume like a traffic light ( _so you don’t get shot on accident_ ) and wings like the fluffy little cherub he pretends to be. Or, like the avenging angel he becomes if you push too hard. 

And then Joker gets ahold of a crowbar and those pure white wings are broken, stained with a red the Lazarus Pit will keep, not wash out. 

And really, Jason can be mad at Bruce for a lot of things, but failing to recognize him through his wings isn’t one of them. After coming out of the Pit, Jason’s feathers had come back patchy, those on top the red of dried blood, the rest the same black-as-night as Bruce’s. 

And yet, as time goes on and Jason finds himself rejoining his little (not so little anymore) family, he is surprised by how many of those missing feathers grow in not black, but white. 

And there are more and more with each passing year.


	4. Cry Together

Tim Drake grows up hearing that to be an Avis is something to be proud of. 

But not, apparently, when said Avis’s wings are black as coal. 

Flaunting is still encouraged, but only at the galas. _Never_ at the house or, heaven forbid, the streets of Gotham. 

And Tim isn’t _flaunting_ on those rooftops. It's just - the buildings he chooses don’t often have a fire escape he trusts, and how _else_ is he supposed to get on the rooftops to take pictures? 

Then Batman and Nightwing - Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson - are captured by Two-Face, and Tim knows omen of death or not, Batman needs a Robin. 

And within twenty-four hours, Tim is finally stunned by one of Batman’s revelations, as both vigilantes spread black-as-coal wings in the safety of the Bat Cave, and Tim knows he’s found a family that will accept him, bad-luck-wings and all. 

He is almost disappointed when several years down the line, his black-as-night feathers start developing red tips, a perfect match to his costume.


	5. Fight Together

Damian Wayne was always different. 

He doesn’t flaunt his status as an Avis - a Tayir, he corrects them - and he doesn’t hide it either. To Damian, his blood-red wings are just another weapon Talia al Ghul has trained him to use with lethal force. 

Which is just one more thing Bruce, and then Dick, have to train him out of before he can truly be Robin. 

Dick knows they’ve made permanent progress when Dami molts, and those red feathers suddenly sport yellow and green tips. 

_ You’d think -  _

Dick muses as Damian trains in the uniform Jason still calls a traffic light, Dick still looks at and thinks _home_ \- 

_ You’d think, it was as if he’d been born for this. _

**Author's Note:**

> The three words used - avis, pasăre, tayir - all mean "bird" in their respective languages (Latin, Romanian, and Arabic). I don't speak any of those languages and used Google Translate. 
> 
> Kudos and comments will be adored and cherished!


End file.
